The Little Avengers
by fangirltothe-end
Summary: One shot. Tony and Steve get deaged. Hilarity ensues and things take an unexpected turn.


This fic had been inspired by a post on Tumblr; the link is on my profile page.

This is my first attempt, you guys. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Marvel ie I own nothing but my feelings for them.

* * *

"No."

"Fury, please-"

"Absolutely not."

"You're jumping overboard before the ship's even been damaged!"

"Think what you want. I am not helping you with this." Fury said. "_Neither_ of us are."

The statement was met with a roar of protest from the Avengers and Coulson. Even Hill agreed that the situation called for a little more help than usual.

"Why are you so against helping?" Natasha demanded.

"Isn't it obvious? Stark is bad enough as it is, and I don't have the patience to deal with an even more stuck up, brattier-" The sentence was interrupted by a little wail. Seven heads turned toward the sound, while the remainder had a stare off.

"_Fine_. But carrying them around is where I draw the line Romanoff."

* * *

They had all been on a mission in Germany. Steve and Bucky were still trying to take down Hydra, and said they needed all the help they could get. They had expected M.O.D.O.C. to be here. They had not, however, expected his new weapon. A de-ager, he had called it. Stark had laughed. He had stopped laughing when M.O.D.O.C fired the beam. He couldn't move away in time, and neither could Steve when he pushed Tony out of the way. Then in a flash, the flying head had disappeared. Left in its place was a large, green bubble. Bucky had rushed towards it and broken it with a few knocks from Steve's shield, which he'd tossed away before jumping in to save Tony. What lay inside the bubble shocked everybody so much, they all took a step back. They had never expected M.O.D.O.C.'s invention to work; but right in front of them were two little boys. One of them was wearing a red and gold armor, with the faceplate retracted back; the other was wearing a blue suit with a motif resembling the American flag.

Natasha recovered from the shock first. She squatted down and said "Hey there,"

"Who are you?" Steve had asked.

Another wave of shock rolled over them. They couldn't remember who the rest of the team were.

"We're here to help. What're your names?" Clint said.

A pause. "I'm Steve Rogers and I'm 7 years old."

"I'm Tony Stark and I'm 7 years old too."

Fury was going to play football with their heads.

* * *

Fury ended up doing something much worse than decapitating them; he refused to help. But that decision had lasted for about five minutes until he heard one of the children crying. Steve and Tony were coloring in pictures of Tom and Jerry that they'd printed off the Internet when the latter had burst into tears. Natasha rushed to console the child, and when he'd calmed down, asked what was wrong.

"I'm not a bad boy," was the muffled answer that came from Natasha's shoulder. Everyone turned and gave Fury a frosty glare, who had the decency to look apologetic. Steve on the other hand, carried on coloring.

* * *

It was after they had reached Avengers tower that the madness began. Bruce called Rhodey, who arrived at the tower with a speeding ticket in his hand. Fury and Hill started a search for M.O.D.O.C. and made a few calls to their contacts. Sam and Bucky were in charge of making food, and Thor and Clint were sent out to buy the children clothes. Natasha and Coulson were in charge of the children. They had somehow managed to convince Pepper to stay and finish a board meeting in Dubai, and promised to send her updates on the situation as soon as possible.

The first speedbump they had was getting the clothes on the children. Or more specifically, one child.

"Come back here you little runt!" Clint yelled as he chased the hyperactive child around the room.

"Can't catch me, can't catch me!" Steve sang while jumping over the bed and sofas.

"BUCKY! Get some clothes on him, will you? I've been trying for the past 15 minutes," Clint said after he flopped onto a sofa.

"I thought hawks were fast, but they're just giant slowpokes," Steve giggled out. A gasp. "Bucky? That's a nice name. You know, my best friend's called Bucky too, but he isn't like you at all."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmm-hmm. He's chubby and short and gets beaten up a lot." Steve said before running out of the room. Bucky made an incoherent noise, while Clint snickered into a pillow.

Second speedbump: feeding them. Keeping Steve's allergies in mind, Sam and Bucky a simple chicken and vegetable pasta for everybody. They were almost done when Clint let out a cry of pain.

"What happened?"

"I think a pea just flew into my eye!" Clint said while holding up the tiny assailant. Another one flew out and hit him again. A giggle.

"Giant slowpoke," giggled Steve. "It wasn't me!" was the response when Clint glared at him.

"My mommy says that you shouldn't play with your food," Tony said with a reproachful look. Reproachful. Tony Stark. Fury almost had a coronary.

Third speedbump: entertaining Steve. They all tried their best. Natasha gave him coloring books which were given back on the account of Steve being "a big boy". Thor offered to carry him around on his shoulders, but was brooding in the corner after Steve said "Golly, you have a lot of muscles for a lady." Bruce sat away from all the havoc because Steve had jumped out from behind a wall and startled him and he refused to be responsible for any childhood trauma. Sam and Clint found a checkers set and sat down to play with Bruce. Tony soon joined them, shyly asking if they could teach him how to play.

Bucky had now decided to help in taming the dragon, and waved off the others with a confident look. He returned a half hour later, muttering about how he was a master assassin and had _killed_ people; he wasn't cut out for this. When asked about this new side of Steve, he shrugged and said he couldn't recall any of these tantrums. Steve had asked (demanded) to play with the pirate. Fury blinked once before he went and joined the game of Monopoly being played by Tony, Bruce, Sam and Rhodey.

In the end, "they" turned into a "he"; more specifically, Coulson. He went around and played with Steve, and listened to and fulfilled any of Steve's demands. The rest of them didn't object. Coulson's dreams were coming true, who were they to go and spoil all that "fun". Hill, who had conveniently ordered pizza, Fury, and the rest of the Avengers moved to a bigger table and started a new game of Monopoly.

"I'm going to go to bed, I'm sleepy," Tony said later with a yawn. "Thank you for teaching me checkers," he added with a shy smile. Clint gaped at him, while Bruce smiled and told him he was a natural. Natasha took Tony to bed, while Coulson tried to convince Steve to do the same.

"Coulson needs a raise," Hill said while looking at the man carrying around Steve on all fours. Everyone agreed.

"How much energy can a seven-year-old asthmatic have?" Sam asked in astonishment. The answer was provided soon enough when Steve fell asleep in the middle of his "pony ride". He'd lasted ten more minutes than Tony.

* * *

The next day, Fury said they were very close to finding M.O.D.O.C. When asked about how he would make the villain create the antidote, Fury smirked and said that Steve could have a little play time with him.

"They're so different as kids," said Sam.

"Different is putting it mildly," muttered Clint.

"After the cure is given to them, will they have any memory of what happened to them?" asked Thor.

"Seeing that they lost their memory when they were deaged, I really don't think so," replied Bruce. They spent a little more time discussing the variations and reasons behind each child's behaviour, before they all fell silent and looked at the two sleeping forms on the sofas.

"No matter what you say, they're cute and friendly kids," Hill said quietly.

"Even Steve." Bucky said before Clint could protest. Natasha added a glare that made Clint reluctantly nod his head. Silence.

"What if they do remember?" asked Sam, breaking the silence.

"In that case, " Natasha said while getting up to wake the children, "Steven Grant Rogers has a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

Tell me what you think ...


End file.
